Christina Formella: Illinois instructor accused of sexual abuse says husband knew about teenager, claims 15-year-old was ‘stalker’

Illinois instructor accused of sexual abuse says husband knew about teenager, claims 15-year-old was ‘stalker’ (Image credit score: X)

An Illinois instructor is dealing with prices for sexually abusing a 15-year-old teen, a relationship she later tried to dismiss as nothing greater than a behaviour of a “stalker” obsessed along with her seems.
Christina Formella, 30, who labored as a particular training instructor and soccer coach at Downers Grove Excessive College, has been charged with two counts of legal sexual assault, after prosecutors mentioned she had a months-long relationship with a 15-year-old scholar that culminated in intercourse inside a classroom.
In accordance with the New York Put up, she informed police the boy had been stalking her and claimed her husband knew about it, however courtroom data counsel he had no concept what was happening.
Formella was arrested earlier this yr, however in her interview with police, she tried to border the scenario as a case of a “good wanting” instructor being focused by an obsessed scholar.
In accordance with courtroom paperwork filed by DuPage County prosecutors, she claimed the boy was a “stalker” who had planted messages on her telephone to blackmail her.
“All through her interview, Formella tried to color the accuser as her ‘stalker’ and claimed that her husband was conscious,” the paperwork state.
However her husband, Michael Formella, who married Christina in summer season 2023, roughly six months after the alleged abuse started, informed investigators he had by no means heard of the boy past figuring out he was a soccer participant, reported the New York Put up.
“Oddly sufficient, her husband informed detectives that he is aware of nothing about [accuser] past his standing as a soccer participant,” the report reads.
Investigators uncovered diary-like messages saved on Formella’s telephone through which she blamed the teenager for “ruining” her marriage. In a single entry, she wrote:
“I went again and display shotted each, single, time that I mentioned we should always break up till after the marriage and after you graduated. And each single fing time you got here again and satisfied me it could be positive. YOU ruined us. I warned you we should always by no means have began courting an extended lengthy lengthy fing time in the past and also you gaslit me and satisfied me it was positive.”
In one other message, she wrote, “I’m f***iing mad I let a 16 yr outdated f**okay with me like that … in the long run, we each misplaced. You misplaced the woman who would have caught with you thru thick and skinny.”*
She additionally appeared to hope for a reunion in a be aware titled “Manifestations,” writing, “We WILL be in one another’s lives perpetually. We will love one another whereas additionally dwelling our personal lives.”
Prosecutors say the inappropriate relationship started whereas Formella was tutoring the boy privately. It began with messages that rapidly turned sexually charged and finally led to a sexual encounter in a classroom one morning in December 2023, when Formella was 28.
The alleged affair got here to mild after the boy’s mom discovered specific messages on his telephone, together with one through which Formella reportedly mentioned, “I really like having intercourse with you.”
Regardless of claiming the boy had blackmailed her, Formella by no means reported any issues to highschool directors or the boy’s mother and father. Prosecutors additionally discovered shirtless images of the boy on her telephone, saved from his social media, in addition to textual content conversations the place she introduced him up unprompted.
Formella initially denied ever having intercourse with the boy, however later admitted to the connection, saying she knew it was unsuitable however couldn’t cease as a result of she “cared an excessive amount of.”
“Defendant admitted that she knew her relationship was unsuitable, however she was unable to cease it as a result of she cares an excessive amount of about him,” the courtroom submitting mentioned.
She later informed investigators that the writings discovered on her telephone have been merely a technique to relieve nervousness, and insisted any sexual references have been about her husband, not the teenager.
Prosecutors pushed to have her detained pretrial, however a decide launched her underneath the situation that she not go close to any faculty or have any contact with minors.
Formella, who started educating at Downers Grove in 2020, has since been positioned on paid administrative depart. She performed soccer at Maine South Excessive College and later for Concordia College, the place she met her future husband.
The couple married final yr in a picturesque ceremony, with images exhibiting them dancing and kissing as company cheered.
Police arrested Formella whereas she was driving along with her husband. As she was taken into custody, Michael appeared surprised and requested officers, “Is she going someplace?”
Formella is due again in courtroom on April 14.